20 Aug 2026
Several areas of England and Wales have “emerging clusters” of infection, a new webinar on the virus has heard.
Allister Webb
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Image: Leon Woods / Adobe Stock
A senior government official has warned of new developing bluetongue case groups in England and Wales as the total number of incidents continues to rise.
Latest figures show there have been 517 confirmed BTV-3 cases in the UK since the start of July, with 20 new incidents reported in the latest update.
But while most reports so far have been in the south-west, concerns have now been raised about “emerging clusters” in Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire and Powys.
To date, only 25 incidents have been confirmed across the four counties, compared to 446 in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset.
But Defra head of exotic disease control Gordon Hickham told the latest AHDB-hosted webinar yesterday evening (19 August): “I expect to see more in those northern [and] midland areas as we go forward.”
He also revealed that around 2,400 more suspected incidents are currently under investigation and present trends suggested around 80% of them would go on to be confirmed as bluetongue.
The growing scale of the crisis has led to renewed appeals for farmers to vaccinate their flocks and herds before the present outbreak reaches its peak.
Revised guidance for the vaccination of both livestock and camelids has been made available via the Ruminant Health and Welfare website as the webinar heard suggestions it may already be too late to vaccinate dismissed as a “myth”.
FarmVets South-West clinical director David Taylor also called for a “proactive” approach to vaccination for next year as he described some of the impacts the virus has had on cattle in the region.
He said there had been increased fertility problems, while reported levels of milk drop appeared more severe than in the Netherlands, adding: “One or two days’ milk drop will pay for the vaccine.”
But he raised concerns that milk drop and other clinical signs such as facial reddening were being mistakenly attributed to other factors such as changing nutrition or sunburn.
Mr Taylor further reported white eyes, classically seen in BTV-8 cases, had been seen in calves whose mothers were showing clinical signs of BTV-3 without being tested for it.
The meeting also heard that stock from bluetongue zones will be required to be vaccinated for the virus before being moved into Scotland from 10 September.
Six cases, all in Dumfries and Galloway, have been recorded there so far.